Martin P. Wattenberg, "Why Clinton
Won and Dukakis Lost: An Analysis of the Candidate-centered
Nature of American Party Politics," Party
Politics , 1 (April, 1995), 245-260.

First Paragraph:
Compared to national elections in parliamentary democracies,
American presidential elections are distinctly personal
contests. This difference manifests itself in many ways.
Whereas party leaders in parliamentary systems appear on the
ballot only in their home constituencies, the names of
American presidential candidates appear on the ballot
nationwide. Even the process of selecting party leaders is
personalized in the USA. Rather than being chosen by a party
caucus, an American presidential candidate becomes de facto
party leader by virtue of winning enough primaries to secure
the party's presidential nomination. Should he win the
general election, the newly elected president can claim a
uniquely personal victory; should he lose, the party can
easily abandon him. For example, both Walter Mondale and
Michael Dukakis became non-entities in their own party soon
after leading the Democrats to defeat and played no role in
the subsequent party conventions.

Last Paragraph:
The major reason why Clinton won and Dukakis lost was that
domestic issues favored Vice President Bush in 1988 but
worked against President Bush in 1992. In 1988, 54 percent
of the public approved of how Reagan was handling the
economy, compared to only 28 percent for Bush's economic
performance in 1992. In addition to the advantage of running
under circumstances when the incumbent's record was
vulnerable, Clinton was also able to control the domestic
issue agenda much better than Dukakis. Whereas the public's
image of Dukakis was laden with all sorts of negatives on
social issues, Clinton was able to avoid such issues and
keep the focus on providing good jobs at good wages and with
affordable health care. In the end, the different issue
emphases of the candidates, as well as the economic
circumstances under which the two campaigns were conducted,
proved to be the key factors that altered the fortunes of
the parties.